UK government at odds over post-Brexit transitional period

Germany

German newspapers led with debate over who should be held responsible for a knife attack in Hamburg last Friday, in which a Palestinian man killed one person and wounded seven others in a supermarket. The suspect's asylum application had been rejected last year, leading politicians to call for a swift deportation of asylum seekers whose request has been denied. The two federal government partners, Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD), blame each other for not having prevented the case.

France

French President Emmanuel Macron is reviewing his strategy and the functioning of his centrist movement La République En Marche, Le Figaro wrote, after recent opinion polls suggested his approval rate dropped 8 percent since he took office in May. Les Echos reported that Macron is facing difficulties as he seeks to put in place promised reforms on the social protection of independent contractors and claimed his election pledge will not in fact improve their situation.

UK

The British government is at odds over what a post-Brexit transitional implementation period will look like, the Guardian reported. British Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the Sunday Times there was no consensus over whether people will continue to move freely between the European Union and the U.K. during a transitional period. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt appeared to contradict Fox by insisting that ministers were united in avoiding a "cliff edge." Speaking to BBC Radio Four on Monday, he called for a "business-friendly" Brexit that would allow hospitals to recruit staff from EU countries "as they do now." Senior Conservative MPs have urged ministers to stop publicly setting out their demands for a transitional deal, saying it could make Brexit negotiations with the EU more difficult.

The Times, meanwhile, reported that Chancellor Philip Hammond said the U.K. would not slash taxes and regulations to undercut European rivals. Hammond said Britain’s social, economic and cultural model would remain “recognizably European” after it left the EU.

Belgium

Le Soir reported that hotel booking website Booking.com pays low taxes in Belgium through a “clever system of tax optimization." The website's Belgian subsidiary recorded a profit of €1.2 million, but most of the revenue is channeled back to headquarters in the Netherlands, out of sight of the Belgian tax authorities.

De Morgen focused on a call from Belgian NGOs and climate experts to ban diesel cars from city centers in the wake of a ruling in Germany last Friday, in which a Stuttgart court backed an effort to ban diesel cars from the city.